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Quantitative Electromechanical Atomic Force Microscopy

Journal Article · · ACS Nano
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  3. Oxford Instruments, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Asylum Research

The ability to probe a materials electromechanical functionality on the nanoscale is significant to applications from energy storage and computing to biology and medicine. Voltage modulated atomic force microscopy (VM-AFM) has become a mainstay characterization tool for investigating these materials due to its ability to locally probe electromechanically responsive materials with spatial resolution from microns to nanometers. However, with the wide popularity of VM-AFM techniques such as piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) there has been a rise in reports of nanoscale electromechanical functionality, including hysteresis, in materials that should be incapable of exhibiting piezo- or ferroelectricity. Explanations for the origins of unexpected nanoscale phenomena have included new material properties, surface-mediated polarization changes and/or spatially resolved behavior that is not present in bulk measurements. At the same time, it is well known that VM-AFM measurements are vulnerable to numerous forms of crosstalk and, despite efforts within the AFM community, a global approach for eliminating this has remained elusive. Here, we develop a method for easily demonstrating the presence of hysteretic (i.e. “false ferroelectric”) long-range interactions between the sample and cantilever body. This approach should be easy to implement in any VM-AFM measurement. We then go on to demonstrate fully quantitative and repeatable nanoelectromechanical characterization using an interferometer. These quantitative measurements are critical for a wide range of devices including mems actuators and sensors, memristor, energy storage and memory.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1542217
Journal Information:
ACS Nano, Journal Name: ACS Nano Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 13; ISSN 1936-0851
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

Mechanical breathing in organic electrochromics journal January 2020
Self‐Assembled Room Temperature Multiferroic BiFeO 3 ‐LiFe 5 O 8 Nanocomposites journal October 2019
Ferroelectric Poling of Methylammonium Lead Iodide Thin Films journal November 2019
Piezoelectricity in Monolayer Hexagonal Boron Nitride journal November 2019
Light‐Ferroic Interaction in Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Perovskites journal September 2019
Reply to: On the ferroelectricity of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskites journal September 2019
Twin domains modulate light-matter interactions in metal halide perovskites journal January 2020
Piezoelectricity in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride text January 2019

Figures / Tables (5)


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